Director of Homelessness and Housing Options

Contract: Permanent

Salary: Up to £126k per annum

Category: Senior management

Grade: Director

Location:
Town Hall
160 Whitechapel Road
London
E1 1BJ

Working hours: 35 hours p/w

Closing date: 30 January 2025

Tower Hamlets Housing Services is going through one of the most exciting transformations in its history.

We insourced our ALMO Tower Hamlets Homes in November 2023, and we are investing in both the service and our passionate housing teams with a focus on delivering new homes and providing excellent customer service.

We are building the next generation of council homes to tackle overcrowding and provide good quality homes. We now have 22,000 homes across the borough including The Boundary Estate in Shoreditch which is the first council housing estate in London.

We have a strong track record of investing in homelessness services for both prevention and providing good quality accommodation.

As our Director of Homelessness and Housing Options, you will lead the delivery of our newly adopted homelessness and rough sleeping strategy with a dedicated, passionate and committed team.

The role includes the opportunity to oversee services and functions including; homelessness assessments, lettings and allocations, rough sleeping and procurement of temporary accommodation /private rented sector accommodation.

Additionally, you will oversee significant programmes and budgets, ensuring financial efficiency while driving cultural and operational change across the department. With a number of registered social landlords as well as our own Council housing stock, you will lead the team responsible for allocations of social rented properties. You will also be involved in the review of our allocations policy to ensure we make the most of our housing stock.

We want you to be innovative with the procurement of homes for temporary accommodation and private sector lettings. You will be a leader who has the experience, drive and passion for helping us to realise our vision of placing our residents and service users at the very centre of what we do.

Commercial acumen along with experience in procurement and contract management are crucial skills. Excellent partnership and communication skills will be required to work effectively with organisations and other parts of the council. You will be passionate about Tower Hamlets and the importance of tackling homelessness and ensuring that our most vulnerable residents receive the best advice and housing possible. You will drive innovation, champion improvement and ensure that Tower Hamlets homelessness and housing options services meet the needs of our diverse communities.

In Tower Hamlets, our entire focus is on delivering for our residents – you’ll have the scope to deploy different approaches to delivery depending on the context and approach which is needed. You will work with our permanently appointed Corporate Director for Housing and Regeneration, David Joyce, to ensure the development, implementation and regular review of the services which you will oversee.

Tower Hamlets is a city within a city – it offers the best of London in one borough. As one of the most visited and high-profile places in the country, the experience of our residents, businesses and visitors is everything. From the Lower Lea Valley which is London’s most significant opportunity area to Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs or areas like Spitalfields, Wapping and the City Fringe or places like Whitechapel, Stepney and Poplar - it is all happening in Tower Hamlets. We are brimming with ambition and our desire is to deliver great placemaking and new homes.

Use your leadership skills to inspire and motivate your team

You will need to have the ability to balance strategic leadership and direction with effective operational management. This includes fostering an open and trusting culture with the ability to lead change through others and inspire high levels of performance.

We are looking for an individual with the ability to apply discretion and initiative in dealing with complex issues. You will be authoritative and influential, with highly developed relationship management and networking skills, and the ability to foster joint working across services

You should be naturally engaging with an ability to inspire and command the respect, trust and confidence of colleagues, council members and other stakeholders. You will be experienced in managing frontline services and you will be committed to being visible, engaging and authentic in managing teams which are often based on estates.

Financial and commercial awareness, highly effective budgeting and financial management skills is essential. You will have detailed knowledge of the Homelessness Reduction and Housing Act. You will have experience of procuring and managing Temporary Accommodation and Private Rented Sector Accommodation and be expert in the application of lettings and allocations policies.

You will be politically sensitive and have a strong belief in the value of local democracy and accountability. You will also have a strong commitment to our values, behaviours and equal opportunity policy, and be ready to demonstrate personal leadership on the importance of diversity.

Our council is a beacon for diversity and inclusion. We want a borough where everyone feels valued and included, and we want a council that collaborates to deliver excellence.

That’s why we look for people with our TOWER values of Together, Open, Willing, Excellent and being Respectful.